Voice input keyboard, a productivity tool or a gimmick? HKUST Xunfei T8 AI Mechanical Keyboard

I personally hate that kind of long voice message. It's really annoying to have to listen to it from the beginning if you don't understand a certain word. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, so I hardly send voice messages myself. However, in scenarios where the other party cannot listen to voice messages, the input field does not support voice recognition, or when a large paragraph of text needs to be input with a mobile phone, the voice-to-text input method is a good choice. HKUST Xunfei has been well-known in the field of artificial intelligence speech in the past two years. Both PC and mobile terminals have Xunfei input methods that can easily convert speech into text, and the accuracy rate is quite high. At the end of last year, HKUST Xunfei launched an AI mechanical keyboard that can "spray" characters - T8, which brought the intelligent voice system to the mechanical keyboard.

When the T8 keyboard first released new product information, many people had this question: "The keyboard is originally used for input. Is it really necessary to add a voice input system? Is it a superfluous gimmick? Or is it true? Productivity tool?" In fact, the ultimate purpose of keyboard and voice input is to input text. From this perspective, the functions of the two overlap. The design of this T8 keyboard is also equipped with an additional smart microphone on the basis of the conventional keyboard.

When the microphone is placed in the storage compartment, it is charged by the keyboard. The back is designed with a collar clip, which allows the microphone to be clipped to the collar to be closer to the pronunciation position, so as to pick up the user's voice more sensitively.

At the same time, the conventional right WIN key on the keyboard has also been modified into a unique microphone key, and different functions can be realized quickly through different operation methods. Under the Windows system, after the keyboard is connected to the computer, press and hold for 5 seconds to automatically open the download page of Xunfei Voice Assistant, which is convenient for users to download and use.

Xunfei Voice Assistant is different from our regular keyboard driver. It does not have setting functions such as button customization and macros, but is a general software for Xunfei intelligent voice system. Other smart voice devices under Xunfei can also be connected and used through this software. You can see in the device management page that in 2.4G wireless mode, the keyboard body T8 and microphone S1 are connected to the computer through the 2.4G wireless receiver at the same time.

The official claims that Xunfei's intelligent voice system can recognize 24 dialects and 66 foreign languages, and the recognition accuracy rate for Mandarin can reach 98%, and it can input 400 words per minute. Just looking at the number of words entered, almost no one can achieve it just by tapping the keyboard. I actually tested it, and the accuracy rate is indeed quite high.

I randomly found a popular film and television commentary video to play, and then turned on the "voice recording" function. According to the real-time input results, it is basically possible to quickly and accurately convert the picked-up audio content into text in real time. I feel that the best usage scenario for this "Voice Recording" function should be a scene such as meeting records. While converting voice into text in real time, it will also save the corresponding audio file in real time, which is convenient for checking and archiving the data later. save.

I also found "Up" and picked a character dialogue to record in real time in English, and the accuracy rate is still quite high. After the recording is completed, it can also be translated into many different languages ​​with one click. For someone like me whose English is extremely poor, it is quite convenient to use it to deal with emergencies, at least it allows me to understand the meaning of this conversation simply and roughly.

Everyone has their own way of working. It is definitely not possible to use the voice function in a collective office, but this function can indeed bring great efficiency improvements to some people. In addition to the meeting minutes introduced above, content creation can also be done by converting dictation into text; video authors can also add subtitles to videos by converting voice into text.

Another difference of the T8 keyboard is that the three function keys (screen capture, ScrLk, Pause) of the conventional keyboard are replaced with shortcut keys for smart screen capture, smart search, and smart recording (voice recording). In addition to the regular screenshot function, "Smart Screenshot" can translate and extract text in the screenshot area, and can also extract tables. Translation and extraction, QQ screenshots can actually be done, but table extraction is a relatively rare function at present.

"Smart Search" means "Smart Interaction". You can conveniently and quickly control the computer webpage to search for the desired content through voice commands and display it in real time. You can also customize and add related voice commands to quickly open applications or websites.

The game voice mode currently supports not many game types, and they are all popular games at present. The main reason is that it is convenient and quick to communicate with passers-by (dui). Generally speaking, most friends will use voices such as YY when playing games together. Software communicates in real time.

After talking about the intelligent voice function of T8, let's take a look at its performance as a mechanical keyboard. The outer packaging is a relatively high-grade double-layer packaging method of inner and outer boxes. The main color is plain white. The two signs of "typing 400 characters in one minute" and "mechanical keyboard that can spray characters" are very eye-catching.

The line drawing of the keyboard can be seen on the back of the package, and the two special functional areas are clearly and clearly annotated.

The accessories are relatively simple, transparent dust cover, wire key puller, black braided data cable, manual and warranty card.

The two function keycaps of the Mac system and the 2.4G wireless receiver are placed in the storage compartment on the back of the keyboard. Scan the QR code inside to quickly get the keyboard usage tutorial.

The keyboard as a whole is similar to the common 87-key keyboard, except that indicator lights and function modules are added on the far right.

The three indicator lights next to the Esc key correspond to 2.4G wireless mode and two Bluetooth channels. All three lights are on for wired mode. You can quickly switch between multiple devices through shortcut keys.

The logo of HKUST Xunfei is silk-screened in the blank area above the arrow keys.

In the upper right corner is a golden metal scroll wheel, dial up and down to adjust the volume of the system, and press it to mute the volume with one key.

Below is a keyboard switch, which should be linked to control the opening of the microphone module function, otherwise the keyboard should not need to be turned on in wired mode to use it. Followed by three indicator lights, and then the microphone module introduced earlier.

The data cable jack of the Type-C hole is on the left side, which is mainly used to charge the keyboard. The official claimed battery life is 70 days. I haven't used up the battery since I got it, so I can't test the actual battery life for the time being. However, the keyboard is not equipped with lighting elements, and there should be no major problems for 70 days.

The keycaps are PBT sublimation keycaps, in which the yellow and gray keycaps are treated with five-sided sublimation process.

The keycap is a ball cap similar to the height of the original factory, and the actual use experience is not bad.

The selection of the shaft body is relatively conservative. The standard configuration is the G Pro shaft body of Jiadalong. I use the G Pro yellow shaft body. The pressure is 50±15 grams. The linear shaft has no dust-proof wall, and the stability and feel are OK In the middle, it is also a very popular shaft. The adjustment of the large keys of the keyboard is not bad, there is no noise, but the cavity sound of the space bar is a little obvious, and the overall feel is quite good.

Some regular textures are designed on the bottom shell, which is not so monotonous, and two-stage feet are provided for optional use.

Finally, back to the title, is a keyboard with voice input a productivity tool? The intelligent voice system can indeed provide relatively great help to some users. From this perspective, it can indeed be regarded as a productivity tool. To some extent, this intelligent voice system can be replaced by Xunfei's intelligent voice mouse. Therefore, compared with users who are already using Xunfei smart mouse, T8 is more attractive or valuable to other mouse user groups. Judging from my experience of using it for about a month, IFLYTEK T8 AI mechanical keyboard does have more and more convenient experience than conventional keyboards. Personally, I prefer to use T8 in combination with my usual mouse.